Lauren N. Schaefer will be awarded the 2017 Natural Hazards Focus Group Award for Graduate Research. She will be formally presented with the award at the 2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 11–15 December in New Orleans, La. This award recognizes “one or more promising young scientists engaged in studies of natural hazards and risks” and is given “in recognition of outstanding contributions achieved during their Ph.D. (or highest equivalent terminal degree) research.”  

Lauren N. Schaefer received a B.S. in environmental geoscience from DePauw University in 2009, an M.S. in geology from Michigan Technological University in 2012, and a Ph.D. in engineering geology from Michigan Technological University in 2016. Her graduate research, advised by Dr. Thomas Oommen, investigated collapse hazards at volcanoes using remote sensing, experimental rock mechanics, and numerical modeling. During her graduate studies, she received a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship, an NSF EAPSI Fellowship, a Michigan Space Grant Consortium Fellowship, and several AEG Foundation grants. She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow with Dr. Ben Kennedy at the University of Canterbury, investigating rock physics in geothermal systems, the conditions and triggers of mass flows, and earthquake-induced landslides. She was nominated for the award by Dr. Oommen.